PHOENIX — A Phoenix man was found guilty on Thursday for his role in a hate crime that involved a hoax bomb threat that targeted a Christian church in California, authorities said.
A jury found Zimnako Salah, 45, guilty of “strapping a backpack around a toilet of a Christian church in Roseville, California with the intention to carry out a hoax bomb threat and obstructing freedom of religion,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Salah is scheduled to be sentenced on July 18. He faces up to six years in prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins will handle the sentencing.
Why was the Phoenix man convicted?
Although he was convicted for one hoax that occurred in California, authorities said Salah went to four churches in total across Arizona, California and Colorado while wearing black backpacks in late 2023.
Salah planted the backpacks at two of the churches, which brought about concerns from people in the church for their safety. Salah was stopped by security at two of the other churches before getting the chance to plant backpacks.
Salah had also been making a bomb that would fit in a backpack, investigators learned. During a search in his storage unit, FBI seized items that an expert said at the trial were parts of an improvised explosive device.
“This Department of Justice has no tolerance for anyone who targets religious Americans for their faith,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a news release Thursday. “The perpetrator of this abhorrent hate crime against Christians will face severe punishment.”
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